Supporting means for turbines.



F. HODGKINSON. SUPPORTING MEANS FOR'TURBINES. APPLICATION FILED AUG.30,1910.

1,061,672, Patented May 13, 1913.

WITNESSES TTORNEY IN FACT.

FRANCIS HODGKINSON, 0F EDGEWOOD PARK, ASSIGNMENTS, TO THE COLONIAL TRUST PENNSYLVANIA. ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE COMPANY, TRUSTEE, OF PITTSBURGH,

PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

SUPPORTING MEANS FOR TURBINES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 13, 1913.

Application filed August 80, 1910. Serial No. 579,788.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANCIS HononIN- SON, a subject of the King of Great Britain and Ireland, and a resident of Edgewood Park, in .the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have made a new and useful Invention in Supporting Means for Turbines, of which the following is a specification.

' My invention relates to supporting means for the rotor and stator elements of turbines.

An object of my invention is to produce improved means for supporti the rotor and stator elements of the turbine and the driven shaft directly connected to the turbine shaft, in which the ditliculties, ordinarily encountered and resulting from varia-- tions of temperature, are substantially overcome.

A further object is to produce means for supporting the turbine and the driven shaft directly connected to the turbine, and for providing means for maintaining the supporting means at a substantially constant and equal temperature.

I have found from experience that it is advisable to mount a stator element of the turbine on supports which are formed independently of the stator element. Such an arrangement avoids the necessity of form ing feet or supports integrally with the stator, and thereby complicating the operation of casting the stator and producing temperature strains due to unequal expansion throughout the stator. I have also found from experience that the shaft or rotor ele: ment of the turbine .is'liable to be thrown out of alinement with the driven shaft coupled to it by variations in the temperatures of the bearing supports of the rotor and the shaft. The exhaust end of the turbine is liable to be heated up during the operation of starting and to impart heat to the casing supporting pedestals while the supporting pedestal of the driven shaft remalns'at a normal tern erature; or the supportin pedestal of t e driven shaft may be heats up during the operation of the turblne while the exhaust end of the turbine is cold. Either set of conditions will tend to destroy the alinement between the turbine rotor and the driven shaft.

1V Iy present invention contemplates prov1d1ng means for maintaining the temperature of the supporting pedestals of the turbine and the ad acent pedestal of the driven shaft coupled to the turbine rotor, at a cons'tant temperature and of also equalizing the temperatures of the pedestals.

In the drawings accompanying this application and formlng a part thereof, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a turbine in connection with a pedestal or hearing support for a driven shaft directly con: nected to the turbine. Fl 2 is a vertical section of a supporting pe estal for a bean ing support, which forms a detail of my invention.

In the turbine shown, the stator or casing 4 is provided at its ends with supports or supporting pedestals 5 (one of which is shown) and the rotor element is 'ournaled in bearings located at the ends 0 the casing and supported by the casing. The pedestals 5 may be located ateach side end ofth'e casing 4 and the casing may be provided with integrally formed shoulders 8, which rest on and engage shoulders 9 provided on the cdestals 5. The shoulders 8 and 9 preferab y extend axially of the casing 4t and are of such'size that' the bearing surfaces are suilicient to permit relative motion without excessive wear. The casing l may be secured to the pedestals 5 by means of bolts 10, which extend through holes provided in the shoulders 9 and are secured to the casing in such a Way that the casin may expand and move longitudinally o the shoulder. The pedestals 5 are of such section that they are capable of sustaining the weight of the casing, but they are so constructed that they yieldto the expansive and contractive forces and deflect to accommodate the lateral expansion and contraction of the casing. The only oints of contact between the supporting pa estals 5 and the casin are the shoulders the other portions 0 the pedestal are removed from the casing so that currents of air may circulate between them and the casing and thus form a temperature insulating space.

A driven shaft 12 is directly connected to the shaft or to the rotor of the turbine by means of a coupling (not shown) and 1s and near the.

ported by to the bearing 14-; and after thelubricant' has lubricated the bearing, 1 flows from'the ends of the bearing into t e chamber 16, below the bearing. Discharge pipes 21 communicate with each side of the chamber 16 near the bottom of the pedestal and deliver lubricant to interior chambers or passages formed within the pedestals 5. Both. the

pedestals 5 are hollow so that the may be completely filled with lubricant an they are each provided with a discharge pipe 22, which communicates with the interior chamber or passage near the top of the pedestal.

The pipe 17 communicates with a source of lubricant supply so arranged that. a constant flow of lubricantis maintained through the bearings and the chamber 16, in the pedestal 15, and the interior chambers of the pedestals 5. The pipes 22 communicate with a reservoir, which may also communicate with the source of supply. The pipes 22 communicate with the interiors of the pedestals 5 at such points that the pedestals will be main tained full of oil, and still not cause the oil to overflow the ends of the bearing 1%.

The purpose of circulating lubricant through the pedestals is to maintain them at a constant temperature and also to equalize'the temperature of the pedestals so that the alinement of the turbine shaft and the driven shaft will not be destroyed by changes of temperature ordinarily encountered. The reservoir from which the pipe 17 receives lubricant and to which the pipes 22 return the lubricant may be of such size as to maintain a substantially constant temperature; or means maybe employed for cooling the lubricant delivered by the pipes 22 and, in this manner, maintaining it at a constant or substantially constant temperature. By proportioning the flow of oil through the lubricating system,'it will be apparent that the pedestals may be main: tained almost absolutely at a constant temperature, .tle or no tendency for the turbine shaft to be thrown out of alinement with the driven shaft. In addition to this, any small variation of tem erature'which may, occur-in one pedestal will be communicated to all the pedestals. by the circulating lubricant, and copsequently' will not produce injurious resu ts.

It will be apparentthat the pedestals at both ends of the turbine may be included in the lubricant circulating'system and that the circulating system may be a portion of A. pipe 17 of and consequently there will be litthe lubricating system of the turbine; or that any cooling employed in the pedestals and that it may be circulated independently of the lubricating system of the turbine. Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In combination with the rotorof a turbine, a shaft coupledto the rotor, a supporting pedestal for said shaft, supporting pedestals for the turbine and means for malntalnlng sald' pedestals at an approximately equal temperature.

2. In combination with the rotor of a turbine, a shaft coupled to the rotor, supporting pedestals for the rotor, a supporting pedestal for said shaft and means for maintaining said pedestals at approximate constant temperatures.

3. In combination with the rotor of a turbine, a shaftcoupled to the rotor, a supl1qu1d or medium may be porting pedestal for the shaft, supporting pedestals for the rotor and means for equalizing the temperatures of said pedestals and for maintaining them at approximately equal temperatures.

a. In combination with a turbine and a shaft coupled to the turbine rotor, a bearing for the shaft, a bearing support provide with an interior chamber and a passage between said chamber and pendently formed supports for the turbine provided with interior chambers and a lubricator circulating s smm for deliyering lubricant to the cham ersprovided in said supports. p a

5. In combination with a turbine, and a shaft coupled to the turbine rotor, a supporting pedestal for said shaft provided with an interior chamber, supporting edestals for the turbine provided with interior chambers and means for circulating a cooling medium through said chambers;

6. In combinatlon with the stationary cas ing of a turbine, flexible supports for the casing provided with interior passages and means for accommodating the-longitudinal expansion of said casing.

said bearing, inde- 7 The combination with the stator of a turbine, supporting pedestals therefor, a rotor bearing and a lubricating system connecting with passages in said pedestal for maintaining the temperature of said pedestals approximately constant.

8. In combination with a turbine rotor and its bearings, pedestals for supporting said bearings and provided with interns. passages, and a lubri'catin system. for said bearings arranged in fiui -conducting relation with the passages in said pedestals. 9. In combination with the stator of a tur bine, a rotor, bearings therefor, a lubricatin system, supporting pedestals rovided wit interior passa es, and means or circulating the lubricant t rough said passages.

10. In combination with the stator of a subscribed my name this 29th day of August turbine, independently formed supporting 1910.

edestals for said stator rovided with cooli iig chambers, a rotor an d its bearings, and FRANCIS HODGKINSON' 5 means for cooling the lubricant and circu- WVitnesses:

lating it through said chambers. C. W. MCGHEE, In testimony whereof, I have hereunto B. F. FUNK. 

